# Giuseppe Zurlo

Giuseppe Zurlo, also called Giuseppe Zurolo, (Baranello, 6 November 1757 – Naples, 10 November 1828) was an Italian jurist and politician, descendant of the noble Neapolitan family Zurolo, also known as Zurlo.

## Biography

He born in Baranello in 1757, descendant of the noble Neapolitan family Zurolo, also known as Zurlo.
A member of the Freemasonry, in 1784 he became Scottish Master of the aristocratic lodge La Vittoria of Naples, elevated by the Grand Lodge of London to a provincial Grand Lodge. In 1813 he was Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Naples.
From a young age he held highly prestigious judicial and administrative positions within the administration of the Kingdom of Naples, up to that of Minister of Finance, under Ferdinand I, and Minister of the Interior during the French government (1806 –1815) and during the riots of 1820. As Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe managed the process of abolition of feudalism, decreed with a series of provisions approved by the sovereigns Joseph Bonaparte and Gioacchino Murat between 1806 and 1811.
He decreed the transfer of disputes between the barons and the municipality to the feudal commission, removing them from the ordinary judiciary. The commission, an extraordinary judiciary whose procedures reflected the vertical logic typical of the executive and whose sentences were final, proved to be much faster and more effective in resolving disputes and in executing the law.
A staunch supporter of the need for a radical change in the system of government, Giuseppe, through his personal life experience, knew first-hand the ills that afflicted the populations of the South. In addition to the economic and social problems of his homeland, Molise, he had a thorough knowledge of the conditions of Calabria, where he stayed on two occasions: the first time, as a member of the commission set up to investigate the earthquake of 1783, and a second time, in 1790, when he was a judge of the Gran Corte della Vicaria.
On this occasion he was given the task of carrying out a survey of the "defenses" of the Regia Sila and a verification of the occupations and usurpations of various lands carried out by local owners to the detriment of the royal state property.
In 1827 he became the president of the Academy of Sciences. He remained poor, heavily in debt and ill, in his last phase of life and no longer attended the sessions of the Academy.

### Death

He died in Naples in 1828, his remains are preserved there, in the ossuary of the SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini brotherhood.

## Assignments

* Minister of Justice and Worship (February 1809 – November 1809);
* Minister of the Interior (5 November 1809 – May 1815).

## Writings
### Books

* Giuseppe Zurlo (1811). typography of Angelo Trani (ed.). Rapporto sullo stato del regno di Napoli, dopo l'avvenimento al trono di S.M. il re Gioacchino Napoleone, per tutto l'anno 1809, presentato al Re ... dal ministro dell'Interno. [Signé] [Report on the state of the kingdom of Naples after the accession to the throne of His Majesty King Joachim Napoleon for the entire year 1809 ... , Naples, typ. A. Trani, 1811] (in Italian). Naples (NA). Retrieved 8 September 2024.
* Giuseppe Zurlo; Renato Lalli (1978). Rapporto sullo stato del regno di Napoli nel 1809 [Report on the state of the kingdom of Naples in 1809] (in Italian). Naples (NA): Marinelli. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
* Giuseppe Zurlo (1812). typography of Angelo Trani (ed.). Rapporto sullo stato del regno di Napoli per gli anni 1810, e 1811 presentato al re nel suo consiglio di stato dal Ministro dell'interno [Report on the state of the kingdom of Naples for the years 1810 and 1811 presented to the king in his council of state by the Minister of the Interior] (in Italian). Naples (NA). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
* Giuseppe Zurlo; Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1820). Napoli 18 novembre 1820. Eccellentissimi signori Allorchè furono istallate le Deputazioni provinciali ... [Naples 18 November 1820. Most excellent gentlemen When the provincial Deputations were installed ...] (in Italian). Naples (NA). Retrieved 9 September 2024.

### Letters

* Giuseppe Zurlo. Lettere a Monticelli [Letters to Monticelli] (in Italian). Naples (NA): National Library of Naples.
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